Fort Worth weekly gazette. [volume] (Fort Worth, Tex.) 1882-1891, 1887-04-01
4 STORM COMING.
A Great Storm Coming, Compared
With Which Noah's DeIuge Was
but an April Shower,
The Invitation That Went Forth To
Noah Is Sounding in the Ears
Of ALI Humanity.
1t Is the Wisest and Safest Plan for Us
To Get Housed For All Eternity
Before the Storm Comes.
Special to the Gazette.

Rev. I. Dewitt Talma9e, D. D., preached
in this city this morning TO vast con.
gregation. His text was Genesis VII,
"Come thou and all thy house into the
ark" The eloquent preacher said:
We do not need the Bible to prove the
deluge. The biologists hammer an
nounces it, sea-shells and marine fOrma
lions on the top of some of the highest
mountains of the earth prove that at some
time the waters washed over the top 0.
the Alps and the Andes. In what way
the catastrophe came, we know lot:
whether Oy the stroke Of q comet or by
flashes of lightning, changing the air into
water, or by "a stroke Of the hand Of Gld,
like the stroke of the ak between tat
horns Of the OK, the earth staggered. To
meet the catastrophe, God ordered s
great ship built. II was TO be without
Prov, for it was to sail to no shore. II
was to be without helm, for no human
hand should guide it. 1t was q vast
structure, probably as large as two or
three Cunard steamers. 1t was the
Great Eastern of oIden time.
The ship is done. The door is open.
The lizards crawl in. The cattle wal in.
The grasshoDpers hop in. The bros fly
in. The invitation goes forth to Noah /:
Come thou and all thy house into the
ark" Just one human family embark on
the strange voyage, aud l hear the door
slam shut. A great storm sweeps alOrg
the hills, and bends the Ced8rs until ell
the branches snap in the gale. There is a
moan in the wind like unto the moan of a
diving world. The blaCkneSs Of the
heavens Is shattered by the fare Of the
Hghtnlngs, that look down into the
waters, and throw g ghastlineSs On the
lace Of the mOu tains. How strange il
looks! How suffJcating the air seems.
The big drops OF rain plash upon the up
turned faces OF those who are watching
the tempest. Crash! go the rocks IL con-
vulsiOn. Boom! go the bursting heavens
The inhabitants of the earth, instead Of
fleeing to hOuse-tOp and mountain-tOp,
as men have fanCied, sit down in dumb,
white horror to die. For when God grinds
mountains to pieces and lers the ocean
slip its cable, there is no place for men to
fly TO. See the 6rk pitch and tumble in
the surf, while from lis windows the pas
seDgeTs LOOK out upon the shipwreck of a
race, and the carcasses Of q dead world
W OC W lllC mum LdluS. " OC ~ LuC - Il &.
| am no s 8rmi5t. When, on the 2Oth
of September. after the wind has for three
days been blowing from the northeast,
you prophecy that the equinOctial storm
IS coming, you simply state fact not to
be disputed. Neither am | an al8rmISt
when | say that storm is coming, COM
pared with which NOah's deluge was but
an April shower; and that it is the wisesG
and safest for you and for me to get safely
housed for eternity. The invitation that
went forth TO Noah sounds in our ears:
"COme thou and all thy house into the
ark"
Well, how did Moan and his family
come into the ark7 Did they climb IN st
the window, or come down the roof? No;
they went through the door. And just SO,
if we get into the ark Of Gods mercy, it
will be through Christ the door. The en-
trance to the ark of old must have been a
very large entrance We know that it
was, from the fact that there were mon
Ster animals in the earlier ages; and, in
Jrder to get them into the ark two and
two, according to the Bible statement,
the door must have been very wide and
very bigh. So the door into the mercy of
God is large door. We 60 in, not two
by two, but by hundreds, and by thou
sands, and by millions. Yea, all the ma
tions Of the earth may go in, ten millions
abreast.
The door Of the ancient ark was in tie
side. SO now it is through the side of
Christ-the pierced side, the wide-open
side, the heart side-that we enter. Ana!
the Roman soldier, thrustiug his spear
into the SaviOur'S side, expected only to
let the blood out, but he opened the way
10 let all the world in. O, what broad
gospel to preach! If man is about to
give an entertainment he issues one or
TWO hundred Invitations, carefully put up
and directed to the particular persons
whom he wishes to entertaII. But God
eur Esther makes banquet, and goes out
to the front door of heaven, and stretches
out His hsnd5 over land and sea, and,
with voice that pepetrates the HindOo
Jungle, and the Greenland ice castle, and
grove, and Eug ish factory, and
American home, cries out: "COme, for
sll things are now ready" 1t is a wide
looI! The old cross has been taken
apart, and it's two pieces are stood up for
he door posts, so far apart that ali the
world can come in. Kings scatter trea-
lures on days of great rejoicing. So
CHRIST, cur King, comes and scatters the
ewels OF heaven. Rowland Hill said
hat he hoped TO get into heaven through
me creVices Of the door. But he was not
obliged thus to 60 in. After having
preached the gospel in Surrey chapel, &C
ng up toward heaven, the gate-keeper
rled: "Lift up your heads, We everlast-
ne gates, and let this man come in" The
lying thief went in. Richard Bax-
er and Robert Newton went in. !
europe, ASIA, Africa, North and
South America, may yet go
through this wide door without crowd |
ne. Ho, every one all conditions, all |
'snks, all people. Luther said that this !
ruth was worth carrying on ones knees |
rom Rome to Jerusalem; but l think it |
worth carrying all around the globe, and |
III around the heavens, that "God so |
owed the world that He gave His only |
)egotten Son, that whatsoever heiieveth !
n Him should not perish, but have ever
asting life" Whosoeyer will, let him |
ome through the large door. Archim-
des wauted fulcrum on which to place |
lis lever, and then be said that he could |
move the world. Calvary is the fulcrum. |
nd the cross OF Christ Is the lever; and |
y that power all nations shall vet be |
fitted.
Further: It is door that swings both |
rays. do not know whether the door
+ the ancient srk was lifted, or rolled on
tnges; but this door of Christ opens
9th ways. It swings out toward aIl our
Toes; it swings in toward the raptures
heaven. 1t swings in to let Us in; it
wings out to let our ministering ones
ONE out. All are one in Christ-Chris-
ans on earth and saints in heaven.
One army Of the living God,
At His command ws bow; |
P4rt of the host have GRO sed tt e food,